Apple, other tech giants keep firm grip on global brand market

A man takes a picture with a new iPhone 11 inside the Apple Store at Fifth Avenue in New York. (AFP)

A new submission from renowned brand consultancy firm, Interbrand, has just ranked the world’s top brands according to the strength of their brand image in 2019.

But there’s one rather conspicuous absentee.

As tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft continue to consolidate on their position as the world’s strongest brands, it appears some others are struggling to keep up appearances.

Facebook missed out altogether on the top 10 brands in 2019, with Interbrand’s ranking deeming the company out-of-favor in the current year. Mark Zuckerberg’s company was the most high-profile absentee in the top 10.

Interbrand’s ranking is based on current brand strength, achieved by looking at three main factors: how positive is the perception of the brand across the world; what value does the brand itself add to the company; and what plans does the brand have for the future.

The firm then calculated “overall financial return to an organization’s investors, or its economic profit,” as well as “the ability of the brand to create loyalty and, therefore, sustainable demand and profit into the future.”

With all these criteria, Interbrand came up with its top 10 strongest brands for 2019. The top eight remained unchanged from last year’s list while Facebook, 14th this year from ninth in 2018, was the most high-profile brand to miss out in a class which tech brands dominated.

Observers say Facebook’s drop may have been caused by scandals and snafus that seem to be following the company everywhere these days.

Below are the top 10 global brands in 2019 according to Interbrand:

The world’s strongest brand in 2019, according to Interbrand, is tech giant Apple. With a market capitalization (equity value) of about $1 trillion, it beat Google in terms of brand value. It grew 9 percent in the last year.

Google was beaten to the top spot but clearly showed its dominance in the world’s household names, as it had the second-highest brand strength. With a market cap of $869 billion, the brand grew 8%.

Jeff Bezos, recently eclipsed by Bill Gates who regained his throne as the richest man on the planet, and his company Amazon’s market cap stands at $885.3 billion. The brand grew 24% last year.

Microsoft is worth $1 trillion by market cap and improved this year by 17%.

The Coca-Cola brand actually slumped by 4% from last year, as has been the case since 2014.

One of the leading tech giants in the world has a market cap of $284 billion. Its brand value grew by 2% in 2018.

The Japanese carmaker has a market cap of about $222 billion and has grown its brand value by 5% since last year.

According to Interbrand, the automaker’s brand value increased by 5%.

McDonald’s has a $158.5 billion market cap. It has consistently grown its brand value since 2003—last year by 4%.

Disney’s market cap currently hovers around $240.2 billion. A number of ambitious moves have seen its brand value grow by 11% since last year, as per Interbrand’s calculations.